Diary 10. The Van Conversion Part 4 (Final Part)

We were finally adding the finishing touches.

Next, we needed to lay the vinyl floor. We chose vinyl because it would be the easiest to clean. After all, we have a mucky pup and we knew that at some point we would be walking in and out with wet and muddy feet.

We had a style in mind, but at £15 per square meter, it was more than we wanted to pay. One day while on a mad shopping spree, we went into a flooring shop and asked if they had any off-cuts or leftovers. We needed something roughly 2m x 3m. Karma was on our side, and the chap offered up some vinyl flooring that they had just brought back to the shop because when they laid it they discovered the fire doors wouldn’t shut over it.

Squares missing from the vinyl

It wasn't the style we had in mind, it was an odd shape with bits cut out, but was roughly the right size and the colours matched the kitchen worktop. He offered it to us for £10, so at that price we thought it was worth a try. It took a lot of shifting around but we managed to make it work, even though we had to fill some parts that would be hidden under furniture.
We assembled the bed and then had to figure out a solution for the table.

We would have just had something independent that folded up and could be tucked away but, for insurance reasons, we wanted to re-classify the van with the DVLA as a motorhome instead of a van (as a van we were only insured in Europe for 30 days but as a motorhome we could be away for 365 days). One of requirements set by the DVLA is to have "a seating and dining area, permanently attached to the vehicle - the table may be detachable but must have some permanent means of attachment to the vehicle”.

So, with only 3 days left, I threw together a table from the scrap wood we pulled out of the van, attached it to the side of the sofa and made it so that it lifts up at latches onto the frame of the shelf over the cab. It wasn’t ideal because it made getting from the cab to the back of the van very difficult, but all we needed was something to show to the DVLA, then we could adjust later.

The day before we were due to leave, we loaded all our belongings and got things together for a leaving party we had organised for our closest friends and family. As lovely as it was to have a send off, we had given ourselves more things to worry about by organising the party and finding costumes for the theme we had set. Jamie saved us yet again by making some mechanical and electrical adjustments while we organised ourselves.

We were gambling slightly by submitting the paperwork and leaving the UK before it had processed. If there had been any issues, it may have meant coming back to the UK to sort them out (if it couldn't be done in the 30 days we were insured for). Nevertheless, we had confidence in our work and planned to set off regardless.

 On leaving day, slightly hungover, we loaded our final bits. Still unsure of what we would need, we had more than we could store. Boxes of stuff were piled onto the floor at the back of the van and we decided we would filter through it at our first stop, Jenna's Dad's in France. 

We were late in leaving and we really wanted to see our friend's new-born baby, so we risked arriving late by travelling the opposite direction to see them first. Understandably, they couldn't come to the party and we didn't wan't to leave without seeing them. We had a quick 10 minutes with them and set our course for the Eurotunnel in Folkestone. 

We arrived to an empty terminal with five minutes to spare. We were finally on our way...

Matt :)

Watch the Snapchat Story of the conversion

Next Post: Diary 11. Our Fist Night